Having resigned this week, the constitutional court faces questions about legitimacy and interim powers as political pressure mounts.
Poland has entered a constitutional crisis after judges backed by the parliamentary majority have suspended the Constitutional Tribunal’s president, Bogdan Świeczkowski, provoking nightly protests, riot police deployments and the return of President Karol Nawrocki from a foreign trip. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has defended the action as necessary to restore judicial independence; opponents call it a coup ahead of next year’s election.